Trying to make an Epic Spell...

[Shayuri]

I had what I think is a fairly cool idea for an epic spell, but on reading through the seeds in the ELH, I'm a bit stymied on how to do it.

The spell is basically a hemispherical Wall of Force combined with an Antimagic Shell of slightly larger radius. Ideally it would be of potenially large radius as well...something that could be erected over a stronghold, if needed.

Now, after perusing the various seeds, the closest I found was a few linked Ward seeds...but the problem is that Wards are ultimately FAR less powerful than walls of force and antimagic shells. Even after pumping their damage reduction up (and DC's), they would fall far short.

Does anyone out there have ideas I may have missed for the creation of this spell? And does it strike anyone else as weird that a 5th level Wall of Force spell is potentially hugely more powerful than an Epic seed?

 

[James McMurray]

As far as I've seen there isn't a single force effect available in the seeds. However, the energy seed is most likely what you are wanting. How does this sound:

Shayuri's Insurmountable Barrier
Evocation [Force]

Spellcraft DC: 228
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 Minute
Range: Personal
Area: 20' Spherical Emanation
Duration: 20 Hours
To Develope: 2,520,000gp, 41 days, 82,080XP. Seed: Energy (DC19) and Wrd (DC14). Factors: Change energy type to force (ad hoc +15 DC), Block Epic and Lower level spells (+180 DC)

This spell creates a hemispherical wall of force with a radius of 19' centered on the caster. In addition, it creates an area of 20' radius around the caster wherein no magic can function. Artifact and deity magic is not suppressed.


Obviously the DC is a bit high, but no mitigating factors have been added. Also, as written the area will be mobile, allowing the person to walk around with this up (the Energy and Ward seeds bot allow their emanations to move). Depending on the DM you could either get a DC decrease to make it immobile or would need a DC increase to make it mobile. I personally would go for the latter.

 

[Shayuri]

Hmm... You've some interesting ideas there. I can see how Ward can simulate, to some extent, the antimagic properties now. In fact, it's even better, since it only blocks magic that's coming IN...and allows magic use within the area. In hindsight, that's pretty important, since the stronghold I'm specifically thinking of raising it around is awfully dependent on magic in its construction.

The DC for the force barrier strikes me as perhaps a bit low though, seeing as how it blocks so many things... I might crank the total DC up to something closer to 300, raising the DC of the force wall to cover it. Then it would just be a question of tweaking the area, duration, and mitigating factors... A high DC is to be expected of a spell that can't be breached by anything short of artifact/deific magic...though of course, clever baddies could simply teleport or use planar transit to circumvent the barrier.

So let's make the adhoc +DC for the force effect +45 instead of 15, since it's not doing damage, it's preventing it... That makes the DC 258. We'll make it Dismissable, since it wouldn't do to be trapped behind your own impenetrable shield if you don't want to be...DC260. Change from Personal target (for the Ward seed) to Area Target...+15 and using the 20 foot radius for another +2, which nicely matches with the hemisphere effect for the Energy seed. Now we need to boost the radius immensely... +4 DC per 100% increase...and I'll assume that it doesn't double each time...rather each +4 merely adds another increment on.

20+20+20+20+20+20...so +20 DC for a radius of 120'. Which should be sufficient to encapsulate the stronghold. So...DC297.

Which is almost exactly what I was planning on.

With some stern, heinous mitigators, I can get that down below 100, I think.

Thanks for the input!